Healthy food need not be very different from the food we are used to. While many people on a limited calorie diet avoid rice, if you miss this staple you are raised on, take heart. It is possible to include it in your diet, though in small amounts. There is a variety of rice used extensively in the west coast of India - in Kerala, Goa and South Karnataka - which the locals call `double boiled rice.` It is made by steaming the paddy before it is husked.

This rice is much larger than other varieties of white rice and is reddish in colour. It swells to about four times its volume when cooked. So, 100g of this rice yields about 2 cups of cooked rice. It means that if you have a serving of half cup cooked rice, you are consuming only about 25gm of rice. Also, unlike the fine polished rice this rice is lower in GI.

Initially when you change over to this rice you will find it very different and may take a few days to get used to. But soon you will start liking it`s chewy texture and nutty flavour and prefer it to the white rice.